Book two: Spirit
by thesavannakathleen
Summary: Six months after the events in book one: Air, Korra is now having to learn to adjust to her new found abilities and face a new enemy from the Spirit world, relationship issues, and rebuilding the bond between her and her family.
1. Chapter one: The Avatar State

So, this is my guess at what may happen in the next book of The Legend of Korra series. This is set six months after the events of the last episode and I understand that this chapter may be a bit slow, but keep reading as I post more stories. It'll definitely pick up in the following chapters. Thanks. :)

"KORRA!"

Oh no, she knew that she was in trouble now. Maybe she shouldn't have done it, maybe it wasn't completely right…but she had to. There was so much at stake, she just had to do it. But now she would have to face the consequences, and they definitely weren't pretty. No one should ever have to face the wrath of-

"Korra, you cheated! You can't do that, you can't cheat! Using the Avatar state against a little girl is so NOT fair! I'm telling my dad! He's going to ground you! I was beating you until you did that! I should have won!"

…Ikki. No one should ever have to face the wrath of Ikki. The young air bender's incessant chatter berated Korra for another five minutes until she could finally shut her up. "Look, Ikki, this whole Avatar state thing is new to me. I don't exactly know how to control it. And it's not cheating if I use a natural gift."

Ikki took a deep breath, which is saying something for an air bender, "You cannot use your powers against a little girl! The Avatar state isn't even a _natural_ gift for you! For the longest time you couldn't even make contact with your spiritual side! You wouldn't even be able to use it if it weren't for Amon taking your bending away! Korra, you are an AWFUL Avatar."

Ikki's words had never really bothered Korra, they both had a short fuse and a hot temper. But this time was different, Ikki's words cut Korra like a knife. "Whatever, Ikki." Korra stomped off, no longer caring if she actually won the air scooter race or not.

Ikki's eyes grew to the size of saucers, "Oh, Korra, wait come back! I'm sorry, I didn't mean- I mean at least you can go into the Avatar state now! Korra, come back!"

She paid no attention to the little air bender yelling for her. Ikki had a way of losing her temper, but even she should be able to control herself to some extent. What she said had gone too far. Even though Korra did have her bending back, and she was now able to air bend and make contact with her spiritual side, the mere thought of everything she went through with Amon terrified her.

Sure, she was able to restore bending now, but the trauma of having her bending being repressed was still fresh on her mind. It had been six short months ago, and now she had no clue where Noatak and his brother Tarrlok were. He could be anywhere right now, trying to instill rebellion in the non-benders inside of Republic City, or worse, the four nations.

Korra pushed the thought from her mind, like she had done so often the past few months. If he was out there causing trouble she would have been one of the first to hear of it. Only the Avatar would be able to stop him, so of course she would be aware at the first sign of his return.

She made her way to her room on air temple island, desperately wanting to go find Naga and leave for the day. Maybe go find Mako or Bolin and catch up, forget her frustrations by hanging out with her closest friends, but she knew they had their own responsibilities outside of consoling her. She couldn't just go bothering them whenever she felt like it now.

Korra was so lost in her thoughts and anger at what Ikki had said that she barely noticed as a man entered her room. "Go away, Tenzin. I don't want to talk right now."

The middle-aged air bender tugged at his beard, "I am sorry that you don't want to talk right now, Korra. But I cannot stand by while you blatantly disrespect the Avatar state. I saw what happened when you were racing Ikki and the other children. You can't do that!"

"What are you talking about, Tenzin? I'm in complete control of the Avatar state, no one was in any kind of danger." She turned to face her air bending master. He had the look of greatly suppressed rage and annoyance on his face. He must have been really mad for even an inkling of it to show on his face, Tenzin was normally so good at covering his emotions.

"Korra, you've only been able to even enter the Avatar state for six months now. You haven't even had any formal training in it! You aren't in complete control, anything you've been able to do up until now has been sheer talent and luck! There is no denying that you are a very gifted Avatar, but you cannot keep going around using the Avatar state like a power boost! If you do that, you truly have no respect for your spiritual connection, and I would even dare say you have no respect for what it means to be the Avatar!" The anger was very clear on his face now. Korra had never seen Tenzin like this before. Of course she had made him mad on many occasions, but she had never seen him this visibly upset.

"Tenzin, calm down. I didn't do anything wrong. Look, if it's such a big deal that I used my _natural_ ability to beat Ikki in some dumb race then I just won't race them anymore! I don't see what your problem is! I'm the Avatar, I should be able to use the Avatar state whenever the _Avatar_ sees fit!" Water inside of a glass next to her bed began to ripple, the air in the room began to stir as well. Korra was furious, who was Tenzin to tell her when she could and couldn't use the Avatar state?

He breathed in deeply, upsetting Korra was no way to go about dealing with the situation. He needed to reason with her, not fight with her. "Why don't you try to talk to Aang about how to use the Avatar state. If he agrees with you, then go on ahead using it how you wish. I will personally apologize to you about telling you not to use it if he agrees with you. But please, listen to what he has to say."

The air in the room settled to its normal state as Korra's anger bottomed out. "Fine. I'll talk to Aang if that will make things so much better. But Ikki's not getting an apology from me._"_

Tenzin shook his head and threw his hands into the air, "Just talk to Aang." He left the room, slamming the door with a gust of air following him.

Korra's face slowly fell to a frown and her eyes became cloudy. She hadn't meant to be so mean to Tenzin, she was just so frustrated with someone who wasn't in her shoes trying to tell her what to do. Tenzin did normally have good judgment on issues like this though, and he had never steered her wrong, even though some of his ideas were a little too traditional and stuffy for her taste. She huffed in exasperation and sat in a position to meditate, "Alright, Aang. Let's see what you have to say about this."

Suddenly Aang appeared in front of Korra, he had a sad smile on his face. "I guess I don't really have to explain what's going on to you, huh?"

He nodded, "Korra, when I was traveling with my friends I had several experiences with the Avatar state that made me terrified of it."

Korra gasped, "Wait, you were afraid of the Avatar state? How? You're one of the greatest Avatars who have ever existed!"

Aang smiled, obviously amused by what Korra had said, "That is very far from true, but thank you, Korra. But yes, I was so scared of it. I had almost hurt so many people that I loved from the Avatar state, I didn't understand the power in it, I didn't know how to control it. It wasn't until after I had defeated Fire Lord Ozai that I began to control it. Korra, you don't understand the power that you possess in the Avatar state."

Korra felt the heat rise to her face, she wanted to listen to Aang, but she didn't want to be proved wrong. "Of course I know what kind of power I possess! I wouldn't be able to use it if I didn't understand it! You were born an air bender, Aang. You were taught pacifistic ways, you are afraid of power! I'm not."

"I am not afraid of power, Korra. I respect it. You don't, not because you don't want to, but because you don't understand it. I agree with my son, I don't think that you should use the Avatar state whenever you feel like it. It is a great power that not only brings together the four elements that you are able to bend at will, but it also links you completely with your spiritual side. You are a phenomenal Avatar in the physical sense, but spiritually you are still a child."

Korra clenched her fists but decided to drop her pride, yield her anger to Aang and listen to what he had to say, "So what do you want me to do? How do I truly understand the power I possess?"

Aang smiled, pride in the young Avatar showed brightly in his eyes. "Are you up for some traveling? There's a place very personal to me that I think would do you some good to visit. You'd also get to go home for a bit."

Excitement danced across her bright blue eyes, "You mean I get to go to the Southern Water Tribe? I get to go home?"

"For a time, yes. You need to find the ice burg that I was kept in for one hundred years. More will become clear when you reach it, but Korra," a dark shadow played across the previous Avatar's face, "You must be careful. There is a great danger."

What's the great danger? Keep reading! And please review, positive, negative, whatever you think of it, I'd love to know!


	2. Chapter 2: Memories

Everything was dark, incredibly dark. The thickness, the cold of the inky black that surrounded him was tangible. He gasped for breath as he ran through the dark abyss that was his surrounding, stumbling for each step he managed to take. Where was he? What was going on? Only a few moments ago Mako had been chasing down a petty criminal on his motorcycle.

"What happened, Mako? Think." He had been chasing the kid at a fast pace, but he wasn't being reckless. He hadn't made any rash decisions, no sharp turns, no huge jumps, nothing in order to have been knocked out. It was the only conclusion he could reach; he was unconscious, but what had happened?

He had been chasing down a young earth bender, the kid had caused a lot of trouble around different markets by stealing and even attacking a few innocent bystanders. He was a piece of work, that kid. He had his bending taken from him by Amon but ever since it had been restored by Korra he had been caught doing petty crimes.

Mako didn't understand it, he would have thought that the kid would have at least tried to be appreciative to Korra's gift of his returned bending. But instead the kid had jumped head first into causing as much trouble as he could in the short few months that his bending had been returned. The kid had come from a fairly wealthy family so there was no logical reason for him to be stealing. It was strange though, Mako noticed that when the kid was committing a crime that he had a certain look to his eye, almost as if he was possessed.

He shrugged away the thought, the kid was probably just being rebellious and wanting to cause some trouble. Mako had worse things to worry about, like why he was unconscious and how he was supposed to wake up. "Maybe if I keep running I'll find a light or something and it'll wake me up." The idea seemed far fetched, but it was the only shot he had at the moment.

He ran, he ran as fast as he could without face planting into the inky dark expanse beneath his feet. He had been knocked unconscious before, but it had never had this affect on him. It was so strange, he felt as if he were in a physical area that was enveloped in a permanent darkness. "I wonder…" He willed the fire inside of him to his palm. He did not shoot off a huge blast of the flame but rather allowed it to stay a moderate size. The tiny blossom of fire moved in the same rhythm as his heart, the flame connected to him as he was to it. The beauty of fire never ceased to amaze him, but now was not the time to be in awe of the wonders of bending.

He could faintly make out the light casting shadows, he looked down and noticed that the he was in fact standing on ground, but it was grey, lifeless. The grey grass he was standing on did not have an impression from where he was standing, but stayed as it was, like no human had ever touched it.

Mako summoned more of his energy into the fist sized orb of fire in his hand, it was now noticeably bigger and brighter. His eyes grew wide as he saw what lay before him. It was himself, standing in an open field. He remembered the day like it was yesterday, the very day playing out before his eyes once again.

His eight year old self was standing with his back to Mako, but he didn't need to see his face to know what was happening. Tears were streaming down the young child's face, their form crystallized, frozen in time, flowed from his golden eyes, blown away by the wind. His younger brother was asleep on Mako's back, unaware of the terrible event unfolding before him.

Before the two brothers was the most traumatizing event to ever happen in Mako's young life. A fire bender, full of hatred and rage shot blasts of his tangible fury at the brother's parents. Their mother lay unconscious in their father's arms, the pallor of death quietly made its way over her face. Their father stared at the fire bender, his eyes full of sadness and remorse. His glance made its way over to his sons, he mouthed the words, "I love you."

Mako extinguished his flame, unable to watch what was coming next. He knew how the vision before his eyes ended, with his parent's deaths. Suddenly he felt very tired, very weak. He slumped to his knees, unable to hold himself up anymore he fell to his face. Tears streamed from his eyes, he couldn't staunch the flow, he didn't want to. He had never mourned his parents' death, and every time it had been brought up he would only push the pain it caused farther down into his heart. There was no where to put the pain now though, there was nothing to hide him from it. He didn't have the energy to fight the sobs that racked his body, he only grabbed onto the scarf that was once his father's. It was his only comfort, his only place of solace in the dark world he had been thrown into.

He willed the darkness to overtake him, to make the pain of watching his parents' deaths once again go away. He was brought no relief, the darkness did not envelope him like it had the memory. But something did happen.

A blue light shone in the corner of Mako's peripheral vision. A calm voice called to him, "Mako, wake up." He turned his face away from it, he just wanted to be left alone to his misery.

"Leave me alone," his voice cracked through his sobs. The light grew brighter, it overtook the scene of his parent's dying and replaced it with a new one. This one made Mako's tears slow and a small smile come to his face.

It was he and Korra after they had admitted that they loved each other. They were frozen in a loving kiss, the light was coming from Korra. It illuminated all of the dark corners of Mako's vision. There were more scenes everywhere he looked. Some with Bolin, some with Asami, but they were all when he was his happiest. When he felt as if he were whole and not the kid who had witnessed his parents deaths.

He sat up and wiped away the remnants of his tears as the blue light shone down on him, "Mako, wake up." The voice called to him again, the voice was so familiar, so soothing. He stood up and walked towards it.

Korra watched as Mako writhed in her arms, tears were running down his face and he was yelling out inaudible sentences. Silent screams came from his lips as silent tears fell down Korra's face. She had no clue what was going on with Mako, but she knew he was in some sort of deep pain.

"Why don't you try calling out to him?" Lin Bei Fong pressed a damp cloth to the newest member of her police force's forehead. He had been on the job for a few months now and was one of her best cops despite the fact that he was not a metal bender. Today was the first day he had any type of complication, and it was such a serious one that Lin was unsure if she was going to allow him to stay a cop. She had grown to really care for the young fire bender, and she didn't want anymore harm to come his way.

Korra nodded wiping the tears from her glistening blue eyes, she couldn't think of anything profound or extremely loving to say. She didn't think it would matter what exactly she would say, only that she called out to him. "Mako, wake up."

Immediately he stopped thrashing around in her arms, tears still flowed from his tightly closed eyes, but the inaudible screams weren't as frequent. A small smile grew across Korra's face, he still wasn't awake, but he was improving.

Lin noticed his improvement, "Don't just sit there, Korra. Try calling out to him again!"

The young Avatar nodded and decided that since what she said last time worked somewhat, she would say it again. "Mako, wake up." There was no reaction.

Lin frowned, "Well, it was worth a try." She noted the disappointed look on Korra's face. "Don't worry, I'm sure he will be better soon. Mako is a fighter, you know that just as well as I do. In fact-"

Korra never heard the end of what Lin was going to say, a loud gasp attracted both of their attention towards Mako. The fire bender's molten gold eyes flew open. "Mako!" Lin and Korra shouted to him in unison.

He flashed them a weak grin, "Hey guys…what happened?" Instead of getting the answer he was expecting Korra tightened her grip around him in an almost overbearing embrace.

"Mako! Don't you ever scare me like that again! Do you hear me? I thought you weren't going to come back, I…I thought you were gone," hot tears fell onto his face. His shaky hand reached up to wipe them away.

"Don't cry, Korra. I'm alright now. Can you tell me what happened?" His unoccupied hand went to the spot that was throbbing at the back of his head. The pain intensified so much that he had to close his eyes and focus on his breathing. He felt like he was going to slip out of consciousness again. But he couldn't allow it, he would never want to see the horror of his past again.

Korra sniffed attempting to regain her composure once again, "No, I couldn't tell you what happened-"

"But maybe I can," Lin interrupted, "Mako, you were set up." He squinted at Lin, trying to make out her facial expression without having to completely open his eyes.

"There has been a string of odd crimes going around lately, petty ones albeit, but they've been odd. This kid, as you know, has been behind most of them. But, Mako, he was leading you away from an even bigger plan happening," Lin rubbed her temples in order to relieve the enormous headache she felt growing behind her eyes, "Someone tried to murder you."

If y'all can't tell, I'm a fan of cliffhangers. Haha, I'm sorry! I know this chapter seems to have kind of come from left field, but the next two chapters will definitely tie the two together. I will give you a little explanation though, the danger that Aang warned Korra of, and whoever tried to murder Mako are definitely connected. You'll find out more of that in the coming chapters! And I know they're a little on the short side, but I don't want the plot to be lost because some of my chapters may be too long. If you think that they could use more length though, please tell me! Also, I'd like to know what you thought of Mako's flashback of his parents' death, because it'll definitely come back around in a major way later on. So review if you could spare a moment to do so, I definitely want feedback for my first serious fan fic.

I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for reading! :)


	3. Chapter 3: Spirit

Hey, guys! I'm sorry it's taken a few days to upload. I have to go to my grandparents house in order to be able to upload new chapters, so when I upload will be sort of sporadic. I'm sorry about that, but it shouldn't be more than a week at a time at the most that I upload! Anyway, here's the next chapter.

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Korra's eyebrows furrowed in frustration, she had been working on healing Mako's concussion for the past twenty minutes but the inner turmoil he was feeling had been preventing her from making much headway in healing him. "Mako, what's bothering you?"

He put his hands to his throbbing head as Korra placed the water back into it's basin with a deft flick of her wrists, "Can you keep healing me? This hurts worse than it did half an hour ago."

Korra wiped the sweat from her forehead, "It won't do any good if you don't calm down. Whatever is freaking you out is keeping me from healing you." His eyes widened, how did she know that something was disturbing him? Korra was good at reading him by now, but he was sure that the pain from his concussion was hiding anything else that he may be feeling.

She responded as if reading his mind, "Whenever I use water bending to heal," she willed the water to wrap around the back of Mako's head once more. It began to glow and emit a quiet whirring noise, "I can empathize with what you feel. I'm not exactly sure how it works, Katara explained it to me once, but I can tell that it's hurting you. And right now your emotional pain is demanding more attention than your physical pain."

Mako shut his eyes tight, seeing his parents' death earlier that day had done more than upset him, he felt as if he were beginning to unravel. The despair on his father's face, the death on his mothers, and the crazed look of possession in the man who murdered them was just too much for Mako to take. "How did Katara learn that?" He searched for anything to distract his mind from the painful memories assaulting him.

Korra paused, thinking, "She didn't tell me all of it, but she said that she had a friend once that had been brain washed into fighting for the Dai Li. She used her healing abilities as a form of therapy to bring him back to normal. But she told me," her voice dropped in preparation for what she was going to say, "His parents were killed by the fire nation, before his very eyes. Katara said that was an angle she used in order to bring her friend back. But she said that while she did it, she could feel his pain."

Mako inhaled sharply, he couldn't keep the memories at bay and his head began to hurt worse than ever, "That's terrible."

Korra's eyes widened with understanding, "That's what you saw while you were out, wasn't it? Your parents' death."

Mako's skin became a shade paler as he tried to control the shaking in his hands, "Yes."

Now that Korra understood exactly why Mako was feeling the unrest that he was she focused on her healing becoming soothing and loving. She didn't say anything to him, but Mako could feel the swell of emotions she was pouring into him through her water bending. His head stopped throbbing, and the pain in his heart became less intense as well. He sighed in relief, "Thank you, Korra."

She didn't say anything, but ruffled his spiky jet black hair and gently kissed the top of his head. She knew that there was nothing she could say in order to comfort him. Reliving his parents' death must have been so terrible. She pulled up a chair so that she could sit and face him. "Want to talk?"

His molten gold eyes met her cerulean blue ones, she was shocked by the unbridled pain in them. If her healing had done any good on his emotional pain, it wasn't easily noticed. "No, not about my parents. But Korra," he took her hand in his. The harsh contrast of her olive skin against his pale hands was even more evident in the dim afternoon light, "If Lin is right, and someone is trying to kill me, I don't want you to try and protect me."

Her grip on his hands tightened at what he said, her gaze fell from his eyes onto the floor, "Why would you say that?"

Mako decided there that he would never tell Korra the real reason that he didn't want her protecting him so he gave her a simple excuse, "You're the Avatar, you have better things to deal with. I'm a police officer, I'll be able to keep myself safe."

Anger flared up in Korra, she released Mako's hand as she yelled, "Because you did such a good job of that today? Face it, Mako. Someone is out to kill you, you need some extra protection. What better form of protection is there than the Avatar? You need _me_, Mako." She said the last part with finality as she jabbed her forefinger at his chest, "And don't you dare argue with me."

Mako swat her hand away from his chest and stood up to his full height, looking down on her. "I'll argue all I want to, Korra! You may be the Avatar, but you're still my best friend, I won't let you put your life on the line too. You're too hot headed to make decisions like this. I won't have you protecting me."

"Stop being dumb, you need protection! I can use Avatar state now, nothing will be able to hurt either of us if I'm protecting you!" the water she had used to heal Mako earlier sloshed about dangerously in its basin, "Why won't you listen to me?"

Two strings of metal shot out from behind the door way leading into the police station's main office. One tied Korra down to her chair, and the other did the same to Mako. They both huffed out fire from their mouths in anger, glaring at the floor but making sure they didn't make eye contact with one another. "What on earth is going on in here?" Lin stormed into the room keeping a tight hold on the metal she was bending.

"He's an idiot!" Korra yelled at the top of her lungs.

"_I'm_ the idiot? No, you're the idiot!" Korra could swear that she saw sparks shooting from his finger tips, she had seen him mad before, but never this fired up.

"I don't care what you two are fighting about but I will not have it here. You're a police officer, Mako. And Korra, you're the Avatar. I was expecting more from both of you." Lin retracted the metal back into her uniform releasing the two teenagers. Korra and Mako stayed rooted to their spots.

"Lin, you knew Aang. Wasn't he completely safe in the Avatar state? Wasn't he completely able to protect his friends without a problem?" Korra dared to look at Mako, he was fuming in anger.

"Where do you come off thinking that?" Lin cast her a suspicious glance, "You couldn't be more wrong."

Korra jumped up in surprise and glared at Lin, "What?" She stood there in a stupor. Mako had a confused look on his face. He had expected the Avatar state to have it's fall backs, no one was invincible, but how was Korra completely wrong?

"Lin," Korra felt a sense of dread as she spoke her next words, "How could I not be more wrong?"

"That idiot, Tenzin, never told you about the Avatar state?" Korra shook her head. "Figures, I guess he didn't want to scare you too badly. Well, I might as well tell you. This is something that you're going to need to know anyway." Her steely gaze softened as she met Korra's eyes. She felt terrible for having to be the one to break this news to her but regardless she had to do it, "You may want to sit down while I explain this."

Korra took her seat once more, a look of terror crept onto her face. Mako noticed how scared she looked and moved his chair to be next to her. He knew that she was still mad at him, even if his decision had been made for altruistic reasons, but he still wanted to be there for her. After a moment's hesitation he took her hand into his. He was shocked at how cold her hand was. Carefully, so that he didn't burn her on accident, he willed the flame in his being, the energy of fire that coursed through his veins, to warm his hands, just slightly, so that he may be able to give her some sort of comfort. She looked at him and her gaze instantly softened into one of appreciation.

"Korra, I don't know how much you know about the Avatar state, but I can suspect that it isn't much. You've only been able to use it for a short time now, right?" Lin paced back and forth in front of the pair holding hands. It brought back memories of she and Tenzin when they were that age, but she quickly pushed them away. Now was not the time to dwell on the past.

"Right," Korra nodded, "The first time I truly used it was right after Aang showed me how to restore bending," A slight blush rose to her face as she felt Mako's thumb tracing lines on her hand. It was a gesture of comfort, she knew that, but it still sent sparks flying.

Lin nodded, "And I hear you've used it quite recklessly since then. Helping you do chores around Tenzin's house, winning petty races against his children-"

"Is that really important? Aang told me not to do that anymore, something about a great danger and that until I know how to properly use it by going to the South Pole I shouldn't even try to use it anymore. So I won't. Ok, simple as that." Korra clenched Mako's hand tighter out of frustration. The last person she would want another lecture from was Lin Bei Fong.

"That's not the point I'm making, Korra. Although Aang was very right to tell you not to use it until you gained full control of it. But what's this about going to the South Pole to learn how to properly use the Avatar state?" A brief look of confusion crossed the middle aged earth bender's face, but she quickly replaced it with her normal expression of calm neutrality.

"I don't remember what he said word for word, I got news of what happened to Mako right after Aang and I talked so my mind was somewhere else-" Mako took in a sharp breath, silently hating himself for worrying Korra like he had, "-but he said that in order for me to learn more about the Avatar state I needed to go to the Southern Water tribe and find some ice burg or something like that."

Lin nodded, taking the information in, "The ice burg he was trapped in for one hundred years is probably a very spiritual place now. Some Avatar's, Aang included, have a physical place in the world that is a link to the spirit world. There is one in the Northern Water Tribe that housed the sea and the moon spirit, Twi and La. Aang actually-"

Korra cut Lin of angrily, "I'm not here for a history lesson. I know about how the moon spirit was murdered and water bending was almost eliminated. That's not important right now though, tell me about the Avatar state." She noticed how tight her grip was getting on Mako's hand and let off of the pressure she was exerting on it.

"As you wish," Lin decided against snapping back at the young Avatar, she would have plenty of time to yell at her later, "As you know, the Avatar state is where you are at your most powerful. You are completely connected to all four elements at once and you are also completely connected to all of your past lives. It would seem as if you are completely invincible during this," her voice took an ominous drop in tone, "But nothing could be less true. While you have your greatest strength in the Avatar state, you also have your greatest weakness."

Korra raised a questioning eyebrow, "What about the Avatar state is weak?"

"If you are killed while you are in the Avatar state, which is very possible, it almost happened to Aang," dread crept its way into Korra as Lin spoke her next sentence, "The line of reincarnation for the Avatar would cease to be. The Avatar would cease to be."

Mako saw all of the color leave Korra's face, her hand became cold as ice, "There would be no more Avatar?"

Lin nodded, "That is why everyone is so against you using the Avatar state as often as you have been. We have no idea what kind of enemies you may have out there who could strike at any moment. If you happen to be in the Avatar state when they do, Korra, all hope for future generations of peace and harmony would be lost. The Avatar is a symbol of unity, since you are able to bend all four elements and connect with the spirit world, you are a sign that all four nations, no matter how different, can live together in harmony instead of discord. But if the Avatar is gone, so is all hope."

Korra began to take deep breaths in order to keep herself from succumbing to the hysteria she felt growing in the pit of her stomach, "I guess Tenzin isn't as stuffy as I thought he was."

Mako shook his head in disbelief, "Is this general knowledge?"

Lin gave a sarcastic laugh, "Far from it. If the Avatar didn't know about it then I think it's safe to assume that most people have no idea about it. But," she cleared her throat, "That doesn't mean someone wouldn't have the courage to attack the Avatar in the Avatar state. Azula tried it without knowing and almost managed to kill Aang."

Korra released Mako's hand abruptly and stood up, "Well that's good to know, but I won't have to worry about it. I already told Aang that I wouldn't use the Avatar state until I learned how to properly use it. Thanks for telling me, Lin. I'm glad that I know." She clenched her hands into fists, trying desperately to hold herself together in front of her two friends.

"It's only right that you know."

Korra nodded, "I think I'm going to go home now. It's been an eventful day." she glanced over to Mako who seemed lost in his own thoughts. "I hope you feel better soon," she said giving him a small smile.

He didn't seem to notice what she said, or that Korra left the room. Lin took the seat that the young Avatar had previously occupied. "Are you alright, Mako?"

Her voice snapped him out of his stupor, "Uh, yeah I'm fine. Thanks."

Lin shook her head as if what he said had confirmed something in her mind, "Mako, I want you taking the next few weeks off. We still don't have any leads on who tried to murder you, only that they're still out there. I've sent a message to Tenzin and he wants you to go and stay on Air Temple Island for the time being. You should have a sufficient amount of protection there."

He didn't have the strength or will to argue, "Yeah, that's fine. What about Bolin? Is he allowed to come too? Whoever is after me has probably got him under their radar too."

"Accommodations have been made for both of you. We'll send for you as soon as everything is cleared up, but as for now I think that you should go and try to comfort Korra. I don't think she's taking the news as well as she's hoping for us to believe."

Mako frowned, he wished that Korra would open up about her feelings to him more. True, they hadn't been able to be around each other much since he had become a police officer, and where they stood with their feelings for each other was a little hazy at the moment, but that didn't mean that she couldn't open up to him. He was still one of her best friends…right?

* * *

Korra kicked a small pebble in front of her every few steps that she took. She focused on making it go all the way down the street with her without using any earth bending to keep it in line. Even the remedial task of keeping it in a somewhat straight line was difficult for her to accomplish right now. She could feel herself beginning to unravel. How dumb had she been with the Avatar state recently? How many opportunities had she left wide open for someone to attack her?

She barely noticed as she almost plowed a young boy over, "Watch where you're going, kid." She said without looking at him.

He laughed, but it was no normal laugh. It was manic…almost haunted sounding. Korra whipped around to face the kid. He must have been twelve years old, but something was very off about him. The way he held himself in such a hunched position, he looked like an animal about to attack. "You alright, kid?"

He snarled at her, "It's coming. And it's going to get you." With that he began laughing hysterically. Korra was frozen to her spot, unable to shake the sense of complete fear that had overtaken her. She watched as the young kid howled and cackled himself into a frenzy. He began to sway back and forth, coughing, until he fell face down onto the stone pathway. His laughing stopped and the boy grew still.

Korra took a tentative step towards the kid, maybe he was seriously sick and had been hallucinating. Maybe there was something seriously wrong with him and he was dying. She wasn't sure what it was, but she knew that she had to help the kid. "Hey, are you alright?" She reached towards him in order to turn him over to get a better look at his face.

The crackling noise of electricity filled the alley, a cold wind swept Korra's hair out of her face. Something was wrong, something was very wrong. She heard a snarling noise behind her, dread filled her heart as she turned to face it.

* * *

Mako's pace quickened to a sprint as he heard her scream, it was unmistakable, it was Korra. She wasn't too far away, but he had no clue where she was. Unable to make out the direction her scream had come from he jumped into the air as high as he could and shot two flames from his palms. It was a very useful technique that he had learned from General Iroh, It allowed him to propel himself through the air, almost as if he was flying. The only problem was how quickly it wore him out. He knew he wouldn't have much time to find her if he wanted to be able to defend her when he found her.

He heard her scream again, and took off to the right. What he saw wouldn't leave his mind anytime soon. A disturbing creature held Korra in one of its branch like appendages. Electricity cracked around it, and for all Mako knew, it was being directed into Korra. She was now unconscious in the creature's grip.

Mako landed deftly to the ground and started to assault the creature with blasts of fire. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew that if it was hurting Korra that he would kill it. "Let her go!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, fire erupted from his mouth as he continued his onslaught on the creature.

The thing glanced at Mako, deciding if it was worth it's time to attack him or not, and threw Korra into a building across the alley. She hit the building so hard that the stone blocks cracked and crumbled on impact. The creature snarled at Mako and ran off, disappearing into another alleyway.

Mako made his way over to Korra carefully, trying hard not to trip on the debris left behind from the creature's wake. He was so focused on Korra that he barely noticed when he stepped on something that didn't feel like stone. He glanced down at the figure underneath his foot, stepping back in shock. It was the same kid who had knocked him unconscious earlier that day.

**Why doesn't Mako want Korra protecting him if he didn't know about the danger in the avatar state? What was that creature, and why in the world would I have named the chapter the SPIRIT? (If you don't pick up on that one, just go fall in a hole or something.) Next chapter we'll see a bit of what Bolin, Asami, and General Iroh have been up to. Keep that kid in mind, something about him will become important a little later on. So if you liked it, or didn't like it, please review and tell me! I'll try to have the next chapter up tomorrow. Thanks, y'all. **

**Also, thank you Okki and Savvyzzz for all of the feedback and good ideas! Y'all are awesome, and everyone should go read their fics, because they're awesome.**


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